Daphne Koller facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Daphne Koller
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Koller in 2019
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| Born | August 27, 1968 Israel
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| Education | Hebrew University of Jerusalem (BSc, MSc) Stanford University (PhD) |
| Known for | Machine learning Graphical models MOOCs Coursera |
| Awards | ISCB Fellow (2017) IJCAI Computers and Thought Award (2001) MacArthur Fellow (2004) PECASE (1999) ACM Prize in Computing (2007) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Machine learning Computational biology Computer vision Artificial intelligence |
| Institutions | Stanford University University of California, Berkeley |
| Thesis | From Knowledge to Belief (1994) |
| Doctoral advisor | Joseph Halpern |
| Doctoral students |
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Daphne Koller (born August 27, 1968) is a famous Israeli-American computer scientist. She used to be a professor at Stanford University. She is also one of the people who started Coursera, a popular website for online learning.
Daphne Koller is known for her work in artificial intelligence (AI). This field helps computers learn and think like humans. She also uses AI to solve problems in biomedical sciences, which is about health and medicine.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Daphne Koller was born in Israel on August 27, 1968. She was a very bright student from a young age.
She earned her first degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1985 when she was just 17 years old. The next year, at 18, she received her master's degree from the same university. Later, she completed her PhD at Stanford University in 1993.
Career and Research
After finishing her PhD, Daphne Koller did more research at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1995, she joined the computer science department at Stanford University as a professor.
Awards and Recognition
Daphne Koller has received many important awards for her work. In 2004, she became a MacArthur Fellow. This award is sometimes called a "genius grant" because it recognizes very talented people.
In 2011, she was chosen to be a member of the National Academy of Engineering. This was for her important work on how computers can learn and understand information. She also became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014. In 2023, she joined the National Academy of Sciences.
Founding Coursera
In 2012, Daphne Koller and her fellow Stanford professor, Andrew Ng, started Coursera. Coursera is an online platform that offers courses from universities and companies around the world. It helps millions of people learn new things online.
She was the co-CEO of Coursera and later its president. Her work in online education was recognized by Newsweek and Time magazine. Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2012.
New Ventures
In 2016, Koller left Coursera to work at Calico. This company focuses on health and aging research.
In 2018, she started her own company called Insitro. Insitro uses machine learning and genomics (the study of genes) to discover new medicines. The company uses smart computer programs and automated lab equipment to test treatments for diseases.
In 2020, Koller also helped start Engageli. This company created an online learning platform that makes virtual classes more engaging. It helps teachers see if students are understanding the lessons in real-time.
Contributions to AI
Daphne Koller's main interest is in how computers can represent, understand, and learn from information. She uses these ideas in areas like computer vision (teaching computers to "see") and computational biology (using computers to solve biology problems).
She helped create PhysiScore, a tool that uses different types of data to predict health problems in premature babies.
Koller's work in AI builds on an old idea called Bayes' rule. This rule helps computers make better guesses as they get more information. She has helped create new software that uses this rule to find patterns in huge amounts of data. In 2009, she wrote a textbook about probabilistic graphical models, which are special maps that show how different pieces of information are connected.
Books
Daphne Koller has written or contributed to several books:
- She wrote a chapter in the 2018 book Architects of Intelligence: The Truth About AI from the People Building it.
- She co-authored Probabilistic Graphical Models: Principles and Techniques with Nir Friedman.
Personal Life
Daphne Koller is married to Dan Avida. He is a venture capitalist, which means he invests in new companies.
Images for kids
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Daphne Koller in 2019
